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Sunday, 19 February 2012

What is the bimodal curriculum?

Several
years ago we entered a New Age, the Internet Age, with a New Culture
that clearly deviates from the contemporary culture of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, and since then we are living "the greatest social change in human history" (Partal, 2001)

So today
among the instruments that most of us have ALWAYS available when we are building
learning or carrying out a task, besides the traditional pencil and paper we also
have Internet
access (via mobile phones, digital tablets, computers...). The Internet
helps us to locate any type of information we may need and multiplies our
possibilities to communicate and work in Cyberspace,
this parallel world where we can do more and more things each day and where we consequently
spend more and more time.

The Internet
has become so important that in some of its reports the UN has considered “free
Internet access” as a human right and is promoting governmental actions against
the “digital gap” (El Mundo, 2011).

The changes
in our vital context are substantive and force us to face new challenges but
also provide us with new resources and new possibilities. The (almost) permanent
access to the Internet gives us access to an alternative parallel world where
we have the chance to make most of our activities. It is like our
brains had been expanded with a new lobe (the Internet lobe) that can ALWAYS
access any information we are interested in. This is not the result of
a mutation and does not give us onmiscience, but it is certainly a first-rate
evolutionary leap in human evolution. Now some people (specially those
who can be identified with what has been called the "i-Person",
that is to say, people who have integrated i-devices, such as the i-Phone, i-Pad,
etc. in their daily life) are potentially much more powerful than other "Homo Sapiens" because they are adapting better to our new
cultural scene (Marquès, 2011 b).

In this
framework, Education, today as always, aims at helping students develop their
full potential (intellectually, emotionally, morally, physically, etc.) and
transmitting them the culture of our society, so that they can become
functioning members of society, help others and live a satisfactory life
themselves.

This
function of culture transmission, however, requires a thorough review of the
curriculum that we develop in schools. If
today we have a "New Culture", new tools and new forms of
communication we cannot continue teaching and assessing students with the goals,
instruments and procedures of the past.

And just in
the same manner that until today Education was meant to help us to take
advantage of the wonderful potential of our brain (to communicate, read,
calculate, create, live...), now it must also help us to do the same with the omnipresent
Internet, to which we always
have access to and which frees us from memorizing many things (and here we must say
many, not all), but also requires us to develop new skills if we are to avoid
some risks
like dependency, misinformation, shallow thinking, etc. (Carr, 2010; Marquès, 2011)

Because although
it is said that new generations, the "digital
natives" as MarcPrensky calls them (2010), are very skilled
using IT, the truth is that this ability is manifested only in what interests
them (playing, searching for music and movies, interacting on social networks
...) Although many times we can see in them some of the characteristics that Prensky
points out (like predisposition for multithreading, interaction in screens,
sharing, nonlinear accessing to information with preference for the textual
versus multimedia...), most of them are not familiar with many of the risks of Cyberspace
and don’t know how to select the most efficient tools and methodologies for their
homework. This is because the development of the good judgment needed for the
selection of information and tools requires training and plenty of practice
time, and these are not promoted in schools where little attention is paid to Cyberspace,
even though when Cyberspace has become today a parallel world where students
(and more and more citizens of all ages) spend many hours a week. Should
we start thinking of complementing the classic subjects of "science"
and "social sciences" with a new subject, the "Science of
Cyberspace"?

What is the bimodal curriculum? (or bimodal approach of the curriculum)

The changing
cultural scenario of the Internet Age is forcing us to evolve into the i-Person,
always connected to the Internet.Now, whenever we have to carry out a task, we
can (almost) always go on the net and find the information we need in amore and more stable and faster and faster
Internet.

We can do
this provided that we know how to search, that is to say, how to do it efficiently
and in a limited time, not spending hours clarifying concepts in reference
sources (like Wikipedia and others). So in addition to knowing how to search,
we need to have a good vocabulary, which will free us from having to be
constantly looking up words in encyclopedias and other reference sources on the
Internet. Here, remembering having made similar previous experiences will be of
great help.

In this
scenario, once the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic have been learned,
adopting the bimodal curriculum means
accepting that almost all the learning activities of our students are of two
types: “memorizing” activities or “practicing, doing, applying” activities,
and here “doing” means always doing with
the support of their “auxiliary memory”, like their class notes, books or
the Internet. Now let us see in detail these two types of activities of the
bimodal curriculum:

1. - Memorizing activities. They are
activities that focus mainly on vocabulary and data acquisition
(concepts, events, people, multiplication tables, spelling...) that even in our
Internet Age remain essential to people: to think (we think using "our
vocabulary”), to understand what we read or what we are told, to communicate with others, to search on the Internet and
understand others contributions ...

In this
context, for each subject and grade, the teacher will decide at the start of
course the 50 or 100 concepts (processes, events, characters...) that students should
memorize and integrate into their mental frameworks (to know, to understand, to
use, to able to explain) by the end of the course. These concepts will make up the essential
vocabulary and data list. Optionally, the teacher will also prepare a
second list of words and data that he considers not essential but desirable for
students to know by the end of the course, this will be the desirable
vocabulary and data list. Students will receive these lists at the
start of course and will know from the beginning what they are expected to know
by the end of the course.

In each
class session a part of this lists will be systematically worked, with
multiple learning activities (individual,
group and collaborative) oriented to memorize these contents, like for
example exercises with the glossary, interest centers, project work... Probably
teachers will continue doing many of the exercises that have been “traditionally”
done at school, but we can use all kinds of methods (traditional or
innovative, with or without IT), taking into account that the aim
is that students understand, memorize and integrate into their mental maps this
information... so that they are able to recognize these words (in documents
and oral discourses), to use this words (in thinking,
speaking and performing other activities) and to explain (define each of the
words of this vocabulary, accordingly to their age and grade).

We know that
people remember easily the information that they use often. Therefore we must
provide students chances to use this vocabulary and data, so that they can learn
it by carrying out new activities (alternative definitions, relationships,
creative writing...) requiring its use (functionality and transfer of learning)
and being presented with questions that trigger their relating and reflecting
skills.

Many of the
learning activities focused on memorizing vocabulary and data will be done without
IT support, however the review and study of media content and the practice with
self-corrected exercises of digital textbooks and other educational Internet
platforms will be a great help for teachers and students.

2. – Practical activities for applying
knowledge. They are activities involving the execution of a task (to solve problems,
analyze sentences and processes, assess situations or materials, plan and develop
projects, synthesize, create...). The approach of the bimodal curriculum requires that
students are ALWAYS able to make these practical activities with the support of
their "auxiliary memory", reviewing their notes, books, the Internet
... The teacher will decide in each case which information sources can
be used.

The goal is
that students get used to work with the supports that are always present in the
Internet Age (notes, books, the Internet and other IT tools). Of course, all
tasks will be assigned a specific time that must be respected, so that students
who do not possess the essential vocabulary and who have no experience in
similar tasks most likely will not be
able to finish the assignment in time, since searching and finding information
on the Internet takes time.

These “practical activities” include
also some activities, like psychomotor development, mental agility or
development of cognitive functions, in which the consultation of external sources
does not bring anything or, like exercises where an immediate answer is
required, will simply not be possible. These are not memorizing activities in
themselves but must be however executed with the resources that each student
has available in their memories, like for example mental arithmetic or
identification of elements in a photograph.

Practical
activities with documentary support will sometimes be done individually, to
strengthen the students’ autonomy and self-confidence, and sometimes will be done
in
groups, to promote mutual support and collaborative work. In any case, in
these activities students should not memorize data (since they have the data already
on the net) but should acquire new experiences that will leave a mark on their memories,
so that when they remember them in the future, their self-confidence will be strengthened and they will find
performing similar tasks easier.

Performing
the same activity in different contexts over time will allow them to accumulate
experiences that will enrich their "know
how" (knowing what they have just learned or read in a manual) and will
provide them "criteria" to adjust better and better their "know how" to the context in
which they must work in.

Furthermore,
the execution of these activities requires students to apply various cognitive
skills (analysis, synthesis, hypothetical-deductive reasoning, assessment,
exploration, selection, creation, planning...) and with that they
will developtheir intellectual abilities and basic
skills in general.

In this
context, for each subject and grade, the teacher will decided at the start of
course the practical activities that students should
know how to perform by the end of the course (basic list of practical
activities). Optionally he will also prepare a second list
of advanced practical activities. Students will receive these lists at
the start of course and will know from the beginning what they are expected to
know by the end of the course.

In their classes
teachers may apply all kinds of methods (traditional or innovative, with
or without IT) but here the use of IT resources will enlarge
greatly (in quantity, educational potential and relevance of learning) the
range of possible learning activities that we can offer students.

The bimodal
curriculum approach fits into the framework of George Siemens’ connectivism
theory of learning that focus on today’s need of knowing and connecting
the changing sources of information. The data we memorize may become obsolete
tomorrow, however the right sources of information will always provide us
up-to-date information. "Learning
(defined as applicable knowledge) can be outside us" (Siemens, 2004). Knowledge is not only
inside humans but is also spread across multiple sources of information that students
must learn to use according to their interests and needs.

On the same
line, Professor Manuel Area points out: "With
so much information available, it is more useful to know at all times the best
procedure to get the right information than to store data in case it may be
useful in the future" (Area,
2008).

How are exams like in a bimodal curriculum?

According to
the dual type of learning activities of the bimodal curriculum, we consider two
types of exams:

1. – Exams with memorizing
exercises to verify that students have learned the basic vocabulary and data of the
subject and that they are able to explain it: essential and desirablelists
of vocabulary and data (the knowledge of the desirable list will allow
to obtain a higher score).

As until now, in order to pass
the exam, students should study before the exam day to strengthen their
knowledge of memorized concepts. During the exam they should provide basic
information of people and events, define concepts and processes...

2. – Exams with practical exercises with
support from the "auxiliary memory" (students may have access to
their notes, books, the Internet…). These exams will include activities such as
problem solving, analysis, grammar, text commentaries, summaries of documents,
relating historical facts and circumstances... They will refer to lists of
basic and advanced practical activities. The advanced activities will allow
them to obtain a higher score.

Teachers
will specify a limited time for each exam. It is recommended that exams include
some practical activities (compulsory for all) and other complementary
activities with advanced exercises (for those who wish to obtain a higher score).

In these exams, students that usually
do all class exercises and homework using their documentary support (“auxiliary
memory”) will not need to study to prepare the exam. The exam will be similar to
a class exercise and students will be able to use their “auxiliary memory”:
notes, books and (if the teacher allows it) the Internet.

Our starting proposal for compulsory education, and
that each teacher can adjust to subject, grade and circumstances, is that memorizing
exams (vocabulary and data) be between 33% and 50% of the total score of the
subject.

What do we mean by "auxiliary memory"?

Having a
permanent Internet connection, the "i-Person" can always
access the vast sources of information in Cyberspace to search and find the
data needed at any time. When, for example, we are watching a historical film and
we want to place a character in its historical context and the historical
references that we remember, we can quickly access this information on our Smartphone
or tablet. If we are good searching on the Internet (one of the key activities
that should be learned at school today), in a few seconds we will get the answer.
As Dolors Reig says, "the Internet
becomes our external hard drive, the place where we store a lot of things that before
we could only learn" (Reig,
2012). In this sense, today Google has already become our external
memory always available.

In this way,
we can change the way we learn: we may retain the information directly in our
brains or recall that it is on the Internet (sometimes even remember where on
the Internet it is). According to research by Betsy Sparrow, assistant
professor of Columbia University (New York), published in the journal Science,
as the
Internet provides a kind of collective memory, people stop remembering
the information they know they can access from their computer but take good care
to remember where to find it (Sparrow
et al., 2011). That is, we tend to store less information in our brain memory
bank and use the Internet as personal data bank, such as an "external
auxiliary memory." Moreover, the brain still remembers the
specifics of the issues that interest us.

As George
Siemens says: "Technology is
altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking.
Many of the processes previously handled by learning theories can now be made,
or supported by technology”. “Knowing how and knowing why are being
supplemented with knowing where (the understanding of where to find the
required knowledge)" (Siemens,
2004). The pipe is more important than its contents.

According to
Siemens, it is a challenge to activate the previously acquired knowledge in situations
where it is required. However when the required knowledge is unknown, our
ability to connect with sources that can provide this knowledge becomes
essential. As knowledge grows and evolves, our ability to learn what we may need
tomorrow is more important than what we know today, the access to what is
needed is more important than what is already known. Therefore, "nourishing and maintaining connections
is needed for continuous learning" and "the ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts
is a key skill." (Siemens,
2004).

In this context we must consider that searching information on the
Internet always takes time. Therefore, despite the continuous availability of
Internet content, to make our access to
information (documents, links, videos...), contacts (people,
networks...) and Internet tools related
to our regular activities easier and faster, a good option is to
build an environment (web, blog, wiki...) where we can store and order all
these resources as we find them, so that when we need them, we can find
them much faster.

We call this environment our "auxiliary memory" or "enhanced
memory". It is like a library-book-workshop that can be filled (as
we do with our memory) with data and tools for information processing, and when
we need it, we can go there to search information or work with our tools. For
the author of this article, his auxiliary memory is this website:
<http://peremarques.net/>

When we don’t find what we need in our “auxiliary memory”, we still are
able to search information on the Internet using search engines and also asking
our colleagues in our social networks.

The “auxiliary memory” is a personal environment that students
should start building at school, little by little. Young students may start with
a notebook, folder or portfolio where they can collect notes and clippings of
interest. Later students can begin creating their first personal digital
environment on the Internet. When applying the bimodal curriculum approach,
the “auxiliary memory” will immediately be useful, as it can be used as a support
for practical
activities and also as a "vademecum" where students can synthesize
the vocabulary and data they have to memorize.

Ultimately the matter is that students build their memory (its representation of reality, of the world) as always from
the information they receive, from their learning, their actions and
experiences, etc. but now they distribute this information between the
usual space of "brain memory" and the new, always accessible space that
we call "auxiliary memory".

The concept of "auxiliary memory" is close to
the so-called "Personal Learning Environments" (PLE): "a set of tools,
information sources, links and activities that a person frequently uses to
learn" (Adell and Castañeda, 2010). The “auxiliary memory”,
however, is an environment that can be useful in many different circumstances
throughout life (not only during learning activities): studies, work, leisure, etc.

The bimodal curriculum and the PISA test

"PISA (Programme for
International Student Assessment) is a comparative, international study that
evaluates the performance of pupils aged 15 at the end of compulsory school, by
means of assessing certain key competencies, such as reading, math and science.
This project evaluates the ability of students to apply concepts and work in
various situations within each area ... " (OCDE, 2009)

Andreas
Schleicher, head of the OECD PISA program, summarizes the new role of education
in today's world where information sources are always within our reach, "educational success does no longer
mean to retrieve content knowledge but to extrapolate what we know and apply it
to new situations. Education, therefore, has to do much more with ways of
thinking, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making;
with ways of working, including communication and collaboration; with tools, including the ability to recognize and
exploit the potential of new technologies, and the ability to live in a
multifaceted world as active, responsible citizens" (Scheleicher, 2011).

In this
context, PISA tests are part of the assessment of competency-based learning.
They assess the students' ability to extract and process information in a task-solving
situation.

Although so far authorizing students to use their
"auxiliary memory", or any other source of external information, has not
been considered in these tests, the tests overall provide the basic information
needed to perform the required tasks, mostly practical activities. (To see some
of the activities for reading comprehension and math, please refer to
<http://docentes.leer.es/wp-content/pisa/index2.html>
<http://evalua.educa.aragon.es/admin/admin_1 / file / Math% 20PISA.pdf>).
These activities do not intend to measure the memory of young students but are
meant to proof that students can do them. Moreover, the OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development) claims that in the near future some
tests will be able to be answered on a computer (LA VANGUARDIA, 2012).

Will there be less school failure with the bimodal curriculum?

Currently
there are many students who fail "test problems" because they do not
remember the formulas. Well, with the bimodal curriculum approach this will not
happen again. The students will only fail if, even with the help of their notes
or the Internet, they don’t know how to solve the problems in the given time.

By freeing
students from the pressure of memorizing so much content, since in the bimodal
curriculum approach many of the exercises and exams (practical activities) will
be made with the "auxiliary memory" support, we will prevent that students
with memorizing difficulties become unmotivated (due to their inability to
remember) and manage to do their exercises and pass their tests thanks to the support
of their notes and other information sources. By anticipating their eventual
success ("If I can refer to my information sources, I can do it") some students
will be motivated to work more and therefore learn more.

This is the
result from research conducted at UAB DIM about "new techniques against
school failure" <http://peremarques.pangea.org/casio/>
during the school year 2010-11and that will continue on 2011-12 .

It is particularly sad that
much of this 30% of students who fail in their secondary-school studies fail
due to memorizing tests, without having been able to proof that, beyond this
limitation (often they simply do not want to spend hours memorizing things
meaningless to them), they have a capacity (sometimes brilliant) to develop the
skills necessary for social integration. And I say that it is especially sad
because they are forced to memorize manythings that no longer needed to know by
heart… because they are available in their i-Phones.

And how is the full development of students like?

As mentioned
in the introduction, Education as well as ensuring
cultural transmission must provide each person with the maximum development
of their faculties and for that, today as always, we must perform many
different activities next to memorizing tasks and practical exercises with
documentary support.

In this
sense, "we may make the mistake of
overrating the areas of language and mathematics at the expense of other areas
such as Physical Education, Art, Music and Technology. In fact it is in these
areas where we can apply the most innovative methodologies and where students can
learn how to do things and above all
learn to develop their creativity and
complete their full development... " (Rey, 2011)

It is also
essential to encourage reflection and dialogue on ethics and values, to
help students discover their talents, knowledge (Robinson, 2009) and multiple intelligences
(Gardner, 2003), as well as channel
their emotions (emotional education) and self-esteem and cultivate their willpower and self-confidence. Multiple intelligences"can only be understood if one admits
that students can be intelligent too by, for example, controlling their bodies,
drawing a picture or building an invention, instead of reducing their
intelligence to writing well or solving equations... " (Rey, 2011)

The tutoring
activity of teachers in this regard, and especially the work of the tutor-teacher
of each student, is the substrate on which to build the bimodal approach of the
curriculum.

In
this context, we agree with Mark Prensky that all these regards should be
integrated in a curriculum that considers "5 metaskills that all
curricula should incorporate: discovering what to do (behaving ethically, thinking
critically, setting goals...); getting it done (planning, problem solving,
self-evaluation...); doing it with
others (taking the lead, communicating, interacting...); doing it creatively
(adapting, researching, designing...) and improving continuously (thinking, being
proactive and taking risks)"(Prensky,
2011)

So... are you in?

The bimodal
curriculum approach can be applied at any time, regardless of the
official curriculum, because it does not interfere with it. It involves
working in a different educational paradigm whose principles are:

- Accepting that we are in an "i-Person" world, always connected
to the Internet.

- Considering, as part of a careful tutoring action, that there are two
types of learning activities: memorizing activities and practical activities.

- Allowing always students to do practical
activities with documentary support (“auxiliary memory”).

- Providing students at the start of
course with the vocabulary and data that they will have to memorize and with the
practical activities they will have to learn by the end of the course.

While
waiting for education authorities to conduct a thorough review of the official
curriculum and upgrade it to the demands of modern society, considering the concept
of the "i-Person" and beginning to implement the bimodal
curriculum can help providing a better education to students and can
contribute reducing school failure.

Currently
this bimodal approach to the curriculum is implemented in 24 schools in Spain
and 5 schools in Latin America, in the context of a research carried out by
the research group DIM-UAB
<http://peremarques.net/telefonica/> and sponsored by the Telefónica
Foundation.

And so far that's all. I will appreciate your comments
and suggestions on the main FORUM of the DIM social network <http://dimglobal.ning.com/>